Page: Rights leader shows the way in new times

8:35 AM,
Sep. 13, 2013

NAACP President Ben Jealous, seen in March in Annapolis, Md.,
said Sunday he will resign by the end of the year.

Written by

Clarence Page

When Ben Jealous was chosen at age 35 to be the NAACP's youngest president ever, a number of old-timers questioned whether he was up for the job. Five years later, they should be sorry that he is leaving so soon.

That was my reaction when he told me he was stepping down as of Dec. 31, two years before his contract expires, "to spend more time with my children."

I was shocked. That's the sort of reason, I reminded him, that we media workers are accustomed to hearing from public officials who don't want to talk about something else-like a scandal. Fortunately that's not Jealous' situation. Quite the ...